Saratoga: Dyslin, Ramaswamy win league MVP honors in girls basketball

By Mike Barnhart, for Silicon Valley Community Newspapers

Posted:
03/26/2014 06:04:49 PM PDT

Updated:
03/26/2014 06:04:49 PM PDT

Basketball certainly is not an individual sport, and team chemistry truly is a huge factor in a squad's success. But it sure boosts chemistry and success when a team can depend on a specific player to take and make the big shots in clutch situations.

Troy Whitford of Homestead, Mo Abdulrasul of Fremont, Sara Dyslin of Lynbrook and Dharini Ramaswamy of Saratoga were such "go to" players this season. They delivered time and time again. They passed, they rebounded, they defended and they scored ... and scored a lot!

Most importantly, they led their teams through the rugged Santa Clara Valley Athletic League schedule and deep into the post-season playoffs. The league's coaches recognized each player's value and outstanding efforts by honoring them with top post-season awards.

De Anza boys

Whitford's third varsity season was a charm, as Homestead (7-5, fourth place, 17-10 overall) posted its first winning record since 2010-11. The Mustangs won 17 games for the first time in more than a decade and reached the Central Coast Section semifinals for the first time ever.

The 6-foot-1 senior co-captain was named the league's co-Most Valuable Player after leading the De Anza Division in scoring average (20.0 points per game), total points (540), three-pointers (72) and free throws (98).

Whitford shared MVP honors with Joe Malgesini of league champion Los Altos. All-league first team selections included two of Whitford's senior teammates, 6-foot-5 Joel Kitchen and 6-foot Brandon Sutton, juniors Christian Rita of Milpitas and Kevin Mullin of Palo Alto and seniors Steven Garverick of Los Altos and John McAlister of Mountain View.

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Kitchen, a standout volleyball player, was a quick study in his first season on the basketball team, leading the league with 192 rebounds and 43 blocked shots.

What a difference a year made for Fremont's Abdulrasul, who was dropped from the team before the start of his sophomore season.

This winter the 6-foot junior not only made the team, he made a big difference. With Abdulrasul leading all El Camino Division players in total points (597), scoring average (21.3), free throws made (102) and free throw accuracy (80 percent), the Firebirds went 10-2 in league play.

Abdulrasul, along with Wilcox sophomore Julian Jones, was honored as the co-Most Valuable Player.

In addition to the co-MVPs, the seven-man first team included two of the most productive rebounders in the CCS, 6-foot-5 Alex Bernauer of Fremont and 6-foot-4 Ramana Keerthi of Monta Vista, a pair of senior centers.

According to statistics posted at maxpreps.com, no player in the Bay Area grabbed more rebounds than Bernauer (433), who averaged a double-double, 15.5 boards to go with 12.4 points a game. Meanwhile, Keerthi averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per outing for the Matadors, all improvements over his all-league numbers as a junior.

The second team included seniors Alex Noyes of Fremont, Aditya Raju of Monta Vista and Kevin Qian of Lynbrook. Senior Robert Hou and sophomore Ajay Singh of Cupertino earned honorable mention spots, as did Fremont sophomore Jake Burris Fremont and Wilcox senior Noel Tecarro.

De Anza girls

Wilcox was the champion of the De Anza Division this winter, going 11-1 (23-7 overall), and finishing three games ahead of runner-up Lynbrook, so it was no surprise that the Most Valuable Player award went to Joeseta Fatuesi, the Chargers' dominant 6-foot-3 center, who will continue her playing career next season at University of Utah.

But while Fatuesi and the Chargers were going 1-2 in the challenging CCS Open playoffs, Lynbrook's Dyslin was powerful in the post, too. The 6-footer validated her selection as the division's Senior of the Year by leading Lynbrook to the CCS Division II championship.

After helping Lynbrook's volleyball team win the El Camino title and receiving the division's MVP award in the fall, Dyslin continued a terrific senior year with her play on the basketball court. It was a rarity during Lynbrook's 19-9 season when she did not score in double figures, but in the post-season her teammates worked hard to feed her the ball.

She took advantage of her teammates' efforts by scoring 22 of the team's 48 against Pioneer in the quarterfinals, 20 of the Vikings' 50 in the semi-final win over Westmoor and 22 each in the CCS title game win over St. Francis and the NorCal D-II playoff loss against Clayton Valley.

Other special award winners included Junior of the Year D'arrien Jackson of Wilcox and Palo Alto sophomore Maddy Atwater and her freshman teammate Lauren Koyama.

First team selections included seniors Paige Song and Annie Cheng of Lynbrook, Katie Lamson of Los Gatos, Camille Steger and Zoe Zwerling of Gunn, Caitlin Brown and Shania Ratliff of Wilcox and Mountain View junior Jayme Hughes.

Lynbrook junior Dolly Yuan and Los Gatos sophomores Lauren Lacey and Sarah Nelson were among seven players picked to the second team.

"Sara, Paige and Annie garnered all-league honors, but that would not have been possible without their teammates, who got them the ball and pushed them to be better all season," said Lynbrook coach Cynthia Ting. "Our team would not have been half as successful this year without Dolly's contributions, things that don't often show up on the stats sheet, like defensive intangibles and neither does on-court leadership or basketball IQ."

El Camino girls

Ramaswamy produced fireworks on both of the ends of the court for Saratoga this season. Her consistent scoring and defensive efforts fueled the Falcons' 11-1 run to the El Camino Division championship and sparked their advance to the CCS Division III semifinals. The 5-foot-8 senior's performances also reaped the division's MVP award.

Ramaswamy led the league in total points (505), scoring average (19.4), free throws (134), free throw accuracy (82 percent) and blocked shots (41), and ranked second in steals (88).

A four-year varsity player, Ramaswamy ended her career as the second leading scorer in Saratoga girls' history with 1098 points. She also moved into third in assists (151) and fifth in rebounding (403), according to coach Mike Davey.

"She surely would have been first in blocked shots, if we kept that category, as she had 41 this year alone," Davey said.

Second team picks included Homestead senior Tasmine Hackson and juniors Mikayla Davis of Saratoga and Christina Jennings and Kaisa Rautianen of Monta Vista.

Among the players on the honorable mention list were seniors Amra Sivic of Fremont and Tivoli Sisco of Saratoga, junior Olivia Wissig of Cupertino and sophomores Erin Norris of Saratoga and Nicolette Conkin of Homestead.

Sisco ended her Saratoga career 11th in scoring with 356 points and ninth in assists with 80, while Trishika Shetty finished seventh all-time in assists with 93.